Development services urges Select Board to restore planner/grant-writer amid staffing shortfall

At the start of the department presentations, development services staff described an ongoing understaffing problem and presented a case for restoring a full-time planner who would also serve as a grant writer for the town.

The presenter said the department has operated without a permanent planner for years and that prior staff (Chantal Weed) had held the role in the past. “I have been talking about a planner for a very long time,” the presenter stated, framing the request as necessary to keep up with permit review and to pursue larger planning-related grants.

Board members asked whether the grant-writer funds were previously in the Select Board budget and how the new position's duties would be split across departments. Staff replied the grant writer would be townwide, not limited to planning functions, and that training needs would be manageable if the position is filled. Advisory committee members flagged the personnel page's net increase (discussed in the hearing as roughly $84,674 in one exchange) and asked whether some costs had been moved from the Select Board's prior year allocation.

The board requested a clearer cost breakdown, a proposed job description and an analysis of whether the planner/grant-writer could be phased or partially grant-funded. No vote occurred; the Select Board asked staff to return with the requested details at a future meeting.